Gray Divorce Rate in the U.S.: Geographic Variation, 2017

Family Profile No. 20, 2019
Author: Colette Allred

Although the overall divorce rate in the U.S. has declined, among those aged 50 and older it has roughly doubled since 1990 (FP-19-13; Brown & Lin, 2012). In this Family Profile, we estimate the national trend in divorce rates for adults aged 50 and older (“gray divorce”) using the 1990 U.S. Vital Statistics Report and 1-year estimates from the American Community Survey (ACS) for the years 2008 to 2017 (the most recently available data). To examine state-level variation, we employ the 2013-2017, 5-year estimates from the ACS. This Family Profile supplements previously published profiles documenting the geographic variation in divorce rate overall (FP-17-24; FP-18-21).

The Gray Divorce Rate, 2017*

• The gray divorce rate (represented as the number of divorces per 1,000 married women aged 50 and older) increased more than twofold between 1990 (4.9) and 2008 (10.7).
• Since 2008, the gray divorce rate has decreased slightly from 10.7 divorces per 1,000 married women aged 50 and older to 10.3.
• In 2017, 344,755 women aged 50 and older divorced.

*The gray divorce rate = [(number of women aged 50+ divorced in the past 12 months) / (number of women aged 50+ divorced in the past 12 months + number of currently married women aged 50+)] * 1,000

Figure 1. Women's Gray Divorce Rate, 1990-2017

Source: NCFMR analyses of 1990 National Center for Health Statistics; 2008-2017 U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey, 1-yr est.

Five Highest and Lowest Gray Divorce Rates, 2017

• South Dakota had the lowest gray divorce rate, with about 5 marriages per 1,000 ending in divorce among women aged 50 and older.
• Delaware had the highest gray divorce rate in 2017, with over 13 marriages per 1,000 ending in divorce among women aged 50 and older.
  • Delaware’s gray divorce rate was more than twice the rate of South Dakota’s.

Figure 2: Women's Highest and Lowest Gray Divorce Rates

Source: NCFMR analyses of 2017 U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey, 5-yr est.

State Rankings in Gray Divorce Rates, 2017

Source: NCFMR analyses of U.S. Census Bureau, 2017 American Community Survey, 5-yr est.

Geographic Variation in Gray Divorce Rates, 2017

• States with the highest gray divorce rates (in the 1st or 2nd quartile) were predominantly found in the Southern and Western regions of the country.
  • Exceptions include Washington, Oregon, Montana, Wyoming, West Virginia, and South Carolina, which experienced gray divorce rates in the 3rd or 4th quartiles.  
• States with the lowest gray divorce rates (in the 3rd or 4th quartiles) were located in the Midwest and Northeast regions of the United States.
  
  • Exceptions include Kansas, Indiana, and Connecticut, which were in the first two quartiles of gray divorce rates.

Figure 4. Geographic Variation of Women’s Gray Divorce Rate, 2017 

Source: NCFMR analyses of U.S. Census Bureau, 2017 American Community Survey, 5-yr est.

Data Sources

• Clarke. S. C. (1995). Advanced report of final marriage statistics, 1989 and 1990. Monthly Vital Statistics Report, 42(12). National Center for Health Statistics. https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/mvsr/supp/mv43_12s.pdf
• Ruggles, S., Flood, S., Goeken, R., Grover, J., Meyer, E., Pacas, J., & Sobek, M. (2019). IPUMS USA: Version 9.0 [2013-2017, ACS 5-yr]. Minneapolis, MN: IPUMS. https://doi.org/10.18128/D010.V9.0
• Ruggles, S., Flood, S., Goeken, R., Grover, J., Meyer, E., Pacas, J., & Sobek, M. (2019). IPUMS USA: Version 9.0 [2017 ACS]. Minneapolis, MN: IPUMS. https://doi.org/10.18128/D010.V9.0

References

• Allred, C. (2019). Age variation in the divorce rate, 1990 & 2017. Family Profiles, FP-19-13. Bowling Green, OH: National Center for Family & Marriage Research.
• Brown, S. L., & Lin, I.- F., (2012). The gray divorce revolution: rising divorce among middle-aged and older adults, 1990–2010. Journals of Gerontology Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, 67(6), 731-741.
• Hemez, P. (2017). Divorce rate in the U.S.: Geographic variation, 2016. Family Profiles, FP-17-24. Bowling Green, OH: National Center for Family & Marriage Research. https://doi.org/10.25035/ncfmr/fp-17-24.
• Schweizer, V. (2018). Divorce rate in the U.S.: Geographic variation, 2017. Family Profiles, FP-18-21. Bowling Green, OH: National Center for Family & Marriage Research. https://doi.org/10.25035/ncfmr/fp-18-21.

Suggested Citation

• Allred, C. (2019). Gray divorce rate in the U.S.: Geographic variation, 2017. Family Profiles, FP-19-20. Bowling Green, OH: National Center for Family & Marriage Research. https://doi.org/10.25035/ncfmr/fp-19-20.